AQUÍ TIENE LA INFORMACIÓN: Dr. Ben Carson, the former surgeon who criticized President Obama over his lack of leadership and health care plan earlier this year, now claims he was unfairly targeted by the IRS because of his comments against the administration.

During an interview on “The O’Reilly Factor” Wednesday, Carson says the Internal Revenue Service started looking into his real estate holdings following his comments against the White House at the National Prayer Breakfast in February.

Carson says he had never had a problem with the tax-collecting agency until he spoke out against the president.

Eventually, the IRS conducted a full audit against Carson and found no wrongdoing, he said.

So Ben Carson embarrassed Obama and the next thing you know, he faced an IRS audit — sort of like those Tea Party groups or Sarah Palin’s father, after his daughter took on Obama. It also brings to mind Wayne Allyn Root’s comment,“I personally know 15 people who wrote out big checks to Mitt Romney and within 90 days got IRS audit notices.” If once is happenstance, twice is coincidence and three times is enemy action, then this is practically open warfare against Obama’s political enemies by supposedly neutral government agencies. Presidents have been impeached for less.

President Obama claims that Republicans are busy probing “phony scandals.” recently he stated that was “not even a smidgen of corruption” or political motivation in the IRS handling of groups applying for tax-exempt status. But the sheer number of scandals suggests that misbehavior, abuse of power, and possibly corruption are not something being dreamed up by the GOP, but a defining characteristic of the Obama administration. Here is a full list of the administration’s most egregious scandals. The ones we know about, at least. And at the end a copy of today’s editorial of the Wall Street Journal about the current investigation of the IRS political targeting scandal.

Benghazi: This is actually three scandals in one: The failure of administration to protect the Benghazi mission, The changes made to the talking points in order to suggest the attack was motivated by an anti-Muslim video, The refusal of the White House to say what President Obama did the night of the attack. . Watching the AP: The Justice Department performed a massive cull of Associated Press reporters’ phone records as part of a leak investigation.Rosengate: again, this is actually two scandals in one The Justice Department suggested that Fox News reporter James Rosen is a criminal for reporting about classified information and subsequently monitored his phones and emails and. Potential Holder perjury, attorney General Eric Holder told Congress he had never been associated with “potential prosecution” of a journalist for perjury when in fact he signed the affidavit that termed Rosen a potential criminal. The ATF “Fast and Furious” scheme, again two scandals in one: Allowed weapons from the U.S. to “walk” across the border into the hands of Mexican drug dealers. The ATF lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which were used in crimes, including the December 2010 killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and Potential Holder Perjury II: Holder told Congress in May 2011 that he had just recently heard about the Fast and Furious gun walking scheme when there is evidence he may have known much earlier. Sebelius demands payment: HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius solicited donations from companies HHS might regulate. The money would be used to help her sign up uninsured Americans for ObamaCare. The Pigford scandal: An Agriculture Department effort that started as an attempt to compensate black farmers who had been discriminated against by the agency but evolved into a gravy train delivering several billion dollars in cash to thousands of additional minority and female farmers who probably didn’t face discrimination. GSA gone wild: The General Services Administration in 2010 held an $823,000 training conference in Las Vegas, featuring a clown and a mind readers. Resulted in the resignation of the GSA administrator. Veterans Affairs in Disney World: The agency wasted more than $6 million on two conferences in Orlando. An assistant secretary was fired. Sebelius violates the Hatch Act: A U.S. special counsel determined that Sebelius violated the Hatch Act when she made “extemporaneous partisan remarks” during a speech in her official capacity last year. During the remarks, Sebelius called for the election of the Democratic candidate for governor of North Carolina. Solyndra: Republicans charged the Obama administration funded and promoted its poster boy for green energy despite warning signs the company was headed for bankruptcy. The administration also allegedly pressed Solyndra to delay layoff announcements until after the 2010 midterm elections. AKA Lisa Jackson: Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson used the name Richard Windsor” when corresponding by email with other government officials, drawing charges she was trying to evade scrutiny. The New Black Panthers: The Justice Department was accused of using a racial double standard in failing to pursue a voter intimidation case against Black Panthers who appeared to be menacing voters at a polling place in 2008 in Philadelphia. Waging war all by myself: Obama may have violated the Constitution and both the letter and the spirit of the War Powers Resolution by attacking Libya without Congressional approval. Biden bullies the press: Vice President Biden’s office has repeatedly interfered with coverage, including forcing a reporter to wait in a closet, making a reporter delete photos, and editing pool reports. AKPD not A-OK: The administration paid millions to the former firm of then-White House adviser David Axelrod, AKPD Message and Media, to promote passage of Obamacare. Some questioned whether the firm was hired to help pay Axelrod $2 million AKPD owed him. Sestak, we’ll take care of you: Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used Bill Clinton as an intermediary to probe whether former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) would accept a prominent, unpaid White House advisory position in exchange for dropping out of the 2010 primary against former Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.). I’ll pass my own laws: Obama has repeatedly been accused of making end runs around Congress by deciding which laws to enforce, including the decision not to deport illegal immigrants who may have been allowed to stay in the United States had Congress passed the “Dream Act.” The hacking of Sharyl Attkisson’s computer: It’s not clear who hacked the CBS reporter’s computer as she investigated the Benghazi scandal, but the Obama administration and its allies had both the motive and the means to do it. An American Political Prisoner: The sudden decision to arrest Nakoula Basseley Nakoula on unrelated charges after protests in the Arab world over his anti-Muslim video is an extraordinarily suspicious coincidence. “We’re going to go out and we’re going to prosecute the person that made that video,” Hillary Clinton allegedly told the father of one of the ex-SEALs killed in Banghazi. Get rid of inconvenient IGs: Corporation for National and Community Service Inspector General Gerald Walpin was fired in 2009 as he fought wasteful spending and investigated a friend of Obama’s, Sacramento Mayor and former NBA player Kevin Johnson. The White House says Walpin was incompetent.24. Influence peddling: An investigation is underway of Alejandro Mayorkas, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who has been nominated by Obama for the number two post at the Department of Homeland Security. Mayorkas may have used his position to unfairly obtain U.S. visas for foreign investors in company run by Hillary Clinton’s brother, Anthony Rodman.

And last but not least…….

IRS targets Obama’s enemies: The IRS targeted conservative and pro-Israel groups prior to the 2012 election. Questions are being raised about why this occurred, who ordered it, whether there was any White House involvement and whether there was an initial effort to hide who knew about the targeting and when.

Even if scandals as Benghazi could be considered the worst scandal of this administration because the loss of life of American officials, the IRS scandal is very important because it represent an interference with the right of freedom of speech.

I am able to send you this e mail because of my right to communicate freely my ideas.

Freedom of speech is the political right to communicate one’s opinions and ideas using one’s body and property to anyone who is willing to receive them- If a government agency punishes me because I use my right of freedom of speech, this government stop being a democracy to become a dictatorship

Today’s Editorial of the Wall Street Journal gives us the details of the current investigation of the IRS political interference with the conservative groups that used their political right to communicate their ideas against Obama’s administration.

Obama’s IRS ‘Confusion’

New evidence undercuts White House claims about IRS motivation.

Feb. 5, 2014 7:06 p.m. ET

House committees are still digging into the IRS political targeting scandal, and based on a hearing Wednesday there’s more to learn. The day produced more evidence blowing apart President Obama’s claims that there was “not even a smidgen of corruption” or political motivation in the IRS handling of groups applying for tax-exempt status.

Mr. Obama wants Americans to believe that the targeting resulted from the confusing tax law governing nonprofits, which he says was “difficult” to interpret and resulted in mere “bureaucratic” mistakes. This is also the Administration’s justification for issuing new regulations governing 501(c)(4)s that would effectively silence White House opponents this election year. Published in the Federal Register in November, the new rules cite the “lack of a clear and concise” regulation as reason for the rewrite.

House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp blew up this fairy tale at Wednesday’s hearing with new IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. Mr. Camp unveiled a June 14, 2012 email from Treasury career attorney Ruth Madrigal to key IRS officials in the tax-exempt department, including former director Lois Lerner.

The email cites a blog post about the political activity of tax-exempt 501(c)(4) groups and reads: “Don’t know who in your organizations [sic] is keeping tabs on c4s, but since we mentioned potentially addressing them (off-plan) in 2013, I’ve got my radar up and this seemed interesting.”

Interesting for sure. The IRS typically puts out a public schedule of coming regulations, and Mr. Camp noted that in this case “off-plan” appears to mean “hidden from the public.” He added that committee interviews with IRS officials have found that the new 2013 rules were in the works as early as 2011, meaning the Administration has “fabricated the rationale” for this new regulation.

Mr. Camp added that everything his committee has discovered contradicts the White House argument that the IRS scandal was caused by legal “confusion.” The current rules governing 501(c)(4)s have existed, unchanged, since 1959. Prior to 2010 the IRS processed and approved tax-exempt applications in fewer than three months with no apparent befuddlement.

The IRS hyper-scrutiny of conservative groups only began in 2010 amid the Obama Administration’s larger political attack on political donors like the Koch brothers, and emails show that IRS officials were acutely aware of this political environment. In February 2010, for example, an IRS screener in Cincinnati flagged an application to his superiors noting: “Recent media attention to this type of organization indicates to me that this is a ‘high profile’ case.”

From then on applications were routed through the offices of Mrs. Lerner and Obama-appointed IRS chief counsel William Wilkins, and long approval delays ensued. Extensive interviews and emails show that neither the initial Cincinnati interest, nor the subsequent Washington delay, was in any way driven by “confusion.”

Mr. Koskinen promised in December to restore public trust in the IRS, but he didn’t do much of that on Wednesday. He toed the Administration line on the new 501(c)(4) rules, promising to address concerns only “to the extent I have any control” over the process. He refused to say if he’d comply with Mr. Camp’s request for IRS and Treasury documents pertaining to the rule-making, fretting instead about low IRS “morale” and lack of funding.

The quickest way Mr. Koskinen could restore public trust in the IRS would be to halt the new politically toxic 501(c)(4) rules until investigations into the original targeting are complete. Meantime, the House should sharply reduce IRS funding until the agency is more responsive.

Scalia: ‘Kidding Yourself’ if You Think Internment Camps Won’t Return

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told law students at the University of Hawaii on Monday that the nation’s highest court was wrong to uphold the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the court issued a similar ruling during a future conflict.

Scalia was responding to a question about the court’s 1944 decision in Korematsu v. United States, which upheld the convictions of Gordon Hirabayashi and Fred Korematsu for violating an order to report to an internment camp.

“Well of course Korematsu was wrong. And I think we have repudiated in a later case. But you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again,” Scalia told students and faculty during a lunchtime Q-and-A session.

“That’s what was going on – the panic about the war and the invasion of the Pacific and whatnot. That’s what happens. It was wrong, but I would not be surprised to see it happen again, in time of war. It’s no justification, but it is the reality,” he said. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/

Nancy Pelosi appeared on Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart last week and it’s a good bet she didn’t expect what ended up happening. Things got pretty tense, pretty quick, when Stewart tried to get the minority leader to explain why government seems to function so ineptly. Pelosi went to her go-to move… Blame the Republicans.

“Right now, we have a school of thought in the House Republican caucus that is anti-government, anti-science, anti-Obama. They have a trifecta that just enables them to vote against everything.”

The problem for Pelosi is that Stewart wasn’t buying it. Even he realizes that the Democrats held big majorities in both chambers during the early Obama years and that the Democrats are still in charge with their command of the Senate and the White House.

Stewart said that Democrats are then required to make a stronger case. He said that Democratic governance now appears “chaotic” and their execution of legislation appears to “lack efficiency.” When Pelosi again blamed Republicans for this condition, Stewart became even more agitated.

When he asked why it was so difficult to get a company to execute the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchange website “competently,” Pelosi replied, “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? How do you not know?” Stewart asked laughing.

He laughed in her face. Amazing.

Even some Democrats are getting tired of Pelosi’s hackneyed act. Former Clinton aide Lanny Davis wishes that Pelosi would just grit her teeth and apologize already. The disaster that is Obamacare is wholly the Democrat Party’s fault, and they need to come to grips with that. They wrote it, they rammed it through without ironing it out, and they implemented it like a bunch of drunken monkeys.

It’s all their fault and they should accept responsibility for its failure.

Pelosi and the rest of the Democrat leadership are a joke. One big joke. It’s nice to see the guy with the clown nose finally taking them down a couple of pegs.

Some supporters of President Obama may be worried about how he and the Democrats are going to fare politically, as the problems of Obamacare continue to escalate and it looks like the Republicans have a chance to win a majority in the Senate.

But Democrats may not need to worry so much. Republicans may once again come to the rescue of the Democrats, by discrediting themselves and snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory.

The latest bright idea among Republicans inside the Beltway is a new version of amnesty that is virtually certain to lose votes among the Republican base and is unlikely to gain many votes among the Hispanics the Republican leadership is courting.

One of the enduring political mysteries is how the Republicans can be so successful in winning governorships and control of state legislatures, while failing to make much headway in Washington. Maybe there are just too many clever GOP consultants inside the Beltway.

When it comes to national elections, just what principles do the Republicans stand for? It is hard to think of any, other than their hoping to win elections by converting themselves into Democrats lite. But voters who want what the Democrats offer can vote for the real thing, rather than Johnny-come-lately imitations.

Listening to discussions of immigration laws and proposals to reform them is like listening to something out of “Alice in Wonderland.”

Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them. One of the big problems that those who are pushing “comprehensive immigration reform” want solved is how to help people who came here illegally and are now “living in the shadows” as a result.

What about embezzlers or burglars who are “living in the shadows” in fear that someone will discover their crimes? Why not “reform” the laws against embezzlement or burglary, so that such people can also come out of the shadows?

Almost everyone seems to think that we need to solve the problem of the children of illegal immigrants, because these children are here “through no fault of their own.” Do people who say that have any idea how many millions of children are living in dire poverty in India, Africa or other places “through no fault of their own,” and would be better off living in the United States?

Do all children have some inherent right to live in America if they have done nothing wrong? If not, then why should the children of illegal immigrants have such a right?

More fundamentally, why do the American people not have a right to the protection that immigration laws provide people in other countries around the world – including Mexico, where illegal immigrants from other countries get no such special treatment as Mexico and its American supporters are demanding for illegal immigrants in the United States?

The very phrase “comprehensive” immigration reform is part of the bad faith that has surrounded immigration issues for decades. What “comprehensive” reform means is that border control and amnesty should be voted on together in Congress.

Why? Because that would be politically convenient for members of Congress, who like to be on both sides of issues, so as to minimize the backlash from the voting public. But what “comprehensive” immigration reform has always meant in practice is amnesty up front and a promise to control the border later – promises that have never been kept.

The new Republican proposal is to have some border-control criteria whose fulfillment will automatically serve as a “trigger” to let the legalizing of illegal immigrants proceed. But why set up some automatic triggering device to signal that the borders are secure, when the Obama administration is virtually guaranteed to game the system, so that amnesty can proceed?

What in the world is wrong with Congress taking up border security first, as a separate issue, and later taking responsibility in a congressional vote on whether the border has become secure? Congress at least should come out of the shadows.

The Republican plan for granting legalization up front, while withholding citizenship, is too clever by half. It is like saying that you can slide halfway down a slippery slope.

Republicans may yet rescue the Democrats, while demoralizing their own supporters and utterly failing the country.

FOX News. By Chris StirewaltBuzz Cut: · Rubio makes case for ObamaCare bailout blockade · Cee-Bee-Oh-No · IRS boss will get more than a smidgen of heat · Pryor goes ugly early with Medi-scare ads · Livin’ la vida Putin RUBIO MAKES HIS CASE FOR OBAMACARE BAILOUT BLOCK Do Republicans have the appetite for another debt-ceiling showdown? President Obama and his fellow Democrats are betting that the red team doesn’t and that House Republicans will eventually yield to an unconditional hike in the federal borrowing limit. But Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., will make the case today that House Republicans can use the looming borrowing breach as leverage to start to unwind ObamaCare. Rubio, the lead proponent of a move to block insurance industry bailouts built into the law, will testify this morning before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about his plan. House Speaker John Boehner has said he is open to the idea of making the debt lift contingent on blocking potentially billions of dollars in handouts to insurance firms grappling with the fallout from ObamaCare. But Boehner won’t go ahead unless Republicans are united behind the plan. That’s why Rubio’s sales pitch today is a pretty big deal. The alternate House plan would be to leverage the debt hike for a largely symbolic move to demand what is now considered the inevitable approval of an oil pipeline from Canada. – Watch Fox: CorrespondentPeter Doocyis following the hearing and considers what the provisions mean for consumers. [Gallup’s latest survey finds 51 percent oppose ObamaCare and only 24 percent feel it will personally benefit them.] High stakes – Ending the bailouts could be the end of ObamaCare since insurance companies would be unlikely to remain in the program without the taxpayer subsidies to offset their guaranteed losses under the law. If they bolt, the law collapses, meaning Obama would be highly unlikely to ever sign such a bill. But if Rubio can get the House to act, he might at least be able to force a painful vote in the Senate on a provision of the law that is unpopular across the political spectrum. David Drucker explains: “The Republican leadership is informally whipping the proposal with rank-and-file members to gauge interest and determine if it’s possible to corral 218 GOP votes for such a package… the strategy now, if House Republicans can agree on a plan to increase the debt ceiling, would be to act first to prevent Senate Democrats from jamming them at the last minute with a proposal that they oppose.” CEE-BEE-OH-NO Team Obama has a doozy of a hangover today from a Congressional Budget Office report that found ObamaCare will reduce the number of hours Americans work by a number equal to 2.3 million full-time jobs and add $10 trillion to federal deficits by 2024. It was always known that the entitlement program would cause some workers to quit full-time jobs in order to get health insurance subsidies, but the number in the new report is triple the original estimate. And none of that even touches on the workers who will be forced into part-time status or be laid off as companies face compliance costs. The White House tried to spin the damning report as a positive, with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney saying that American workers who give up income in order to get ObamaCare benefits “will be empowered to make choices about their own lives and livelihoods.” Quite so. Carney brought in chief White House economist Jason Furman to take beanballs, but he didn’t get on base either. Furman said having subsidies creating economic incentives for not working “creates a situation where you can be more dynamic.” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., will tackle the findings during a House Budget Committee hearing today. More. [“That was a sad briefing … that performance by Jason Furman was one of the most unconvincing performances I’ve seen. His answers to the questions were just… they were pathetic.” – Fox News Senior Political AnalystBrit Humeon “The Kelly File”] Cuts both ways – As Dana Milbank notes: “For years, the White House has trotted out the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to show that Obamacare would cut health-care costs and reduce deficits: “CBO Confirms Families Will Save Money Under Health Reform.” “CBO Update Shows Lower Costs for the New Health Care Law.” “CBO Confirms: The Health Care Law Reduces the Deficit.” Live by the sword, die by the sword, the Bible tells us. In Washington, it’s slightly different: Live by the CBO, die by the CBO.”

Care to revise and extend those remarks? – “This legislation is about creating jobs and strengthening the middle class and reducing the deficit. Four million jobs will be created by the legislation when it is fully in effect. $1.3 trillion will be saved in the life of this legislation. And it strengthens the middle class because it creates jobs.” – Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a 2010 press conference touting ObamaCare. STUDY: MOST DOCS SAY ‘NO’ TO MEDICAIDDaily Caller: “Obamacare supporters have boasted about an uptick in Medicaid enrollments, but does the program offer much more than an insurance card? Health-care consulting firm Merritt Hawkins conducted a survey of Medicaid acceptance rates which found that just 45.7 percent of physicians are now accepting Medicaid patients in the U.S.’s largest 15 cities.” Feds focus on cities for ObamaCare compliance efforts – AP: “Federal officials have identified 25 key metro areas to focus on. The top two are in Texas: Dallas and Houston. Next come Miami and Atlanta. In the Northeast, the northern New Jersey megalopolis and Philadelphia are on the list. Midwest markets include Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis. Southern cities also include Nashville, Tenn., and Charlotte, N.C. Washington is largely steering clear of states that are leading their own sign-up efforts, such as California, New York and Illinois.” Failing forward – “The company that built the failed Obamacare website received six additional contracts from the Obama administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after the website’s disastrous launch, The Daily Caller has learned. According to a company spokesman, CGI Federal was awarded six additional contracts from CMS worth approximately $37 million between October 1 – when the over $600 million Obamacare website launched – through January 2014.” IRS BOSS WILL GET MORE THAN A SMIDGEN OF HEAT President Obama’s told Bill O’Reilly that there was no corruption involved in the IRS targeting of the president’s political opponents. “Not even a smidgen,” Obama laughingly said. Newly appointed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen won’t be having many laughs today when he appears before the House Ways and Means Committee. House Republicans are demanding a special counsel be appointed to investigate the targeting of conservative groups because of Obama’s pre-judgment of the outcome of the existing case and because one of the lead attorneys, Barbara Bosserman, is an Obama political donor. Koskinen will also face heat for reinstating employee bonuses that had been cancelled during the height of the scandal. – Watch Fox: Chief Congressional CorrespondentMike Emanuelhas the latest on the hearing from Capitol Hill. [“So of course the president is confident because the fix is in. The person heading the investigation gave [President Obama] a maxed out contribution, gave him a bunch of money. I think he sent her a signal Sunday when he talked to [Bill O’Reilly]: ‘Here’s what we need to have happen: No problem here.’” – Rep.Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on “The Kelly File.”Watch. New at Fox News Opinion – American Center for Law and Justice’s Jay Sekulow says You’re wrong, Mr. Obama, the IRS is corrupt: “Viewpoint neutrality is a basic legal requirement for federal bureaucrats, one they’re made aware of from day one of federal employment. In other words, singling out conservatives wasn’t an accident or mistake; it was an intentional act by lawyers who knew it was wrong…President Obama ignores the IRS’s own lies. When the IRS made its public apology, it told a series of lies to the American public… But he can’t escape the truth, and, soon enough, his administration won’t be able to escape accountability.” DRILLING FOR VOTES WSJ: “A bipartisan group of senators and House members stepped up pressure on the White House Tuesday to approve the Keystone XL pipeline… ‘This pipeline is essential, the time for study is over,’ said Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat who is in a tight race for re-election this year…. Senators at the press conference also included Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota …Keystone backers in the Senate may be close to 60 votes, Mr. Manchin indicated. ‘We need 15 Democrats,’ he said. ‘I think we’re very close to 15 strong Democrats,’ he added.” [“I want [President Obama] up in Alaska so I can show him where his policies haven’t worked. I’ll drag him up there to show him what he needs to be doing. I don’t need him campaigning for me.”—Sen.Mark Begich, D-Alaska, toAP.]

“…the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal…” – As the Obama administration lays the groundwork for approving a pipeline to bring Canadian oil to Gulf Coast refineries that is bitterly opposed by global-warming activists, the president is offering environmentalists the promise of new regulations that would cripple the U.S. coal industry in years to come. In the near team, though, the “year of action” on global warming looks pretty inert. President Obama today will announce the creation of “climate hubs.” From Reuters: “The hubs will act as information centers and aim to help farmers and ranchers handle risks, including fires, pests, floods and droughts, that are exacerbated by global warming. The hubs will be located in Ames, Iowa; Durham, New Hampshire; Raleigh, North Carolina; Fort Collins, Colorado; El Reno, Oklahoma; Corvallis, Oregon; and Las Cruces, New Mexico, [an unidentified official] said. Additional “sub hubs” will be set up in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico; Davis, California; and Houghton, Michigan.] TRILLION DOLLAR BABY Millions to promote the sheep and maple syrup industries, funding for a catfish inspection office and a new 15-cent tax on every live-cut Christmas tree sold are just a few of the goodies in the nearly $1 trillion farm bill passed by Congress and ready for President Obama’s pen. There’s even a provision to make hemp farming legal, a home-state issue championed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Tim Carney, the scourge of K Street, details the Beltway marriage of convenience between big business and welfare proponents. President Obama will sign the billion-dollar-per-page bill at Michigan State University on Friday. [Washington Examiner’s Watchdog has a new series asking, is the government “Too Big to Manage.”] WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE… Real Clear Science editor Alex Berezow argues Obama must take hit for pot talk: “On Jan. 26, 1998,President Clinton looked America in the eye and said, ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman.’ That fib kick-started an odyssey in which our country debated things such as the meaning of the word ‘is’ and whether oral sex is actually sex… What we don’t want to see is the marijuana equivalent of the Clinton-Lewinsky effect – call it the Obama effect… Presidents simply need to be far more careful about what they say. Whether they like it or not, they serve as a role model for all Americans. On the rare occasion that a teen listens in on the national debate, we want to make sure he gets reliable information.”

POLL CHECK Real Clear Politics Averages Obama Job Approval: Approve – 43.2 percent//Disapprove – 51.7 percent Direction of Country: Right Direction – 29.5 percent//Wrong Track – 63.0 percent Generic Congressional Ballot: Democrats – 40.5 percent// Republicans 42.0 percent PRYOR GOES UGLY EARLY WITH MEDI-SCARE ADS Vulnerable Arkansas Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor isn’t waiting for the general election to start going nuclear. It’s still three months before the state’s primary election, but Pryor is unleashing what is usually Democrats’ preferred late-cycle attack, accusing Republicans of taking seniors’ Medicare. Pryor also takes the unusual step of naming GOP frontrunner Rep. Tom Cotton. In what Politico says is “a six-figure buy,” the ads feature women. Gray-haired “Linda” says: “Retirement is just around the corner for us. That’s why I was so concerned when I read Congressman Cotton voted to change Medicare into a voucher system.” Millennial-looking “Courtney” talks about Medicare reform’s effect on her relatives: “It says here that Cotton voted in Congress to change Medicare into a voucher system that will increase out of pocket expenses for every senior in Arkansas, thousands of dollars every year,” she says. “My grandma and grandpa can’t afford that, and neither can my parents.” Go down swinging? – Senate Democrats are getting a pep talk today from President Obama former President Bill Clinton. The Democratic members of the upper chamber are said to be talking policy as they gather today at Washington’s Nationals Park, but it is no doubt a gloomy midterm forecast that will get more attention. Red state Democrats will likely be looking for some swing tips from batting coach Bubba. REGRETS? THEY’VE HAD A FEW… Americans for Prosperity is spending big to hit vulnerable Democrats over their support of ObamaCare. The group is pumping $1.4 million into television ads hitting Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. Hagan’s ad features a woman saying “millions of people can’t see their own doctors. And millions are paying more and getting less. ObamaCare doesn’t work. It just doesn’t work.” Rahall’s ad features a clip of Rahall saying “it may be in their best interest to be cancelled.” [WSJ details how the GOP is closing in on Senate Democrats in the money race.] PICK SIX: DON’T SELL LANDRIEU SHORT? If Republicans are able to gain six Senate seats in the midterm election they will gain control of the upper chamber. Which six seats are the most likely GOP pickups? The current consensus among Fox News First readers: Arkansas, Montana, Louisiana, South Dakota, North Carolina and Alaska. ReaderCasey Levy cautions against underestimating Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. “[D]on’t sell her short – she’s smart,” Levy writes. Share your top six picks. Email them – just your top six, please – to FOXNEWSFIRST@FOXNEWS.COMor tweet @cstirewalt. DONORS FUND DAVIS’ FIRST-CLASS DIGS “Embattled Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis has spent more than $131,000 in campaign funds to pay for luxury apartments in Austin, Texas, since her election to the Texas State Senate in 2008, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis…While such use of campaign funds is legal in Texas, the amounts involved and properties rented may undermine Davis’s campaign persona of a working class single mom…First elected to the Texas State Senate in 2008, Davis has expensed upwards of $2,000 in monthly rent each legislative session. Davis lived at the Monarch during the 81st session, from January 13, 2009, to June 1, 2009. The residence is described as a ‘luxury community,’ with ‘five-star resort amenities.’ The total amount of rent and utilities paid to the Monarch during the session was $13,882.07.” [Breitbart: “Dallas Cowboys great Emmitt Smith donated $10,000 to support Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis.”] ECUADORIAN EMBEZZLERS GETTING HELP FROM CONGRESS?Daily Beast: “Sen. Robert Menendez [D-N.J] is under federal investigation for his advocacy on behalf of two Ecuadorian bankers convicted of embezzlement. Turns out he wasn’t the only prominent lawmaker accepting donations and doing favors for the brothers. Florida Republican CongresswomanIleana Ros-Lehtinen, while she was Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to federal agencies on behalf of two Ecuadorian bankers convicted of embezzlement who were seeking U.S. residency. She also advocated for their family members, who donated over $20,000 to her campaign. William and Roberto Isaias, who were convicted in absentia of embezzlement in Ecuador more than a decade ago, have been fighting for the right to avoid extradition and establish residency in the United States.” N.J. DEM QUITTING AMID ETHICS WOES WENT 0-646 ON BILLSWaPo: “In his 23 years in Congress, Rep. Robert E. Andrews (D-N.J.) has written 646 different pieces of legislation. That is a vast array of bills, covering a vast number of subjects: children’s pajamas, relations with Taiwan, commemorative coins and trade duties on licorice. But all of Andrews’s bills had one thing in common. Only four of Andrews’s hundreds of bills have ever passed the House of Representatives. But none of them passed the Senate, so none made it to the president’s desk. Even in Congress, where the vast majority of bills fail, that is an unusually awful batting average.” [Democrat Clay Aiken, made famous by his second-place finish on “American Idol” a decade ago, is making his North Carolina congressional run official. Aiken, an outspoken opponent of the state’s recently approved ban on same-sex marriage, launched his campaign with an attackon incumbent Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C.] PUSHING FOR CANTOR COUP? “Speaker John A. Boehner should lose his gavel if he pursues immigration this year, a prominent tea party Republican said in an interview with CQ Roll Call on Tuesday. ‘I think it should cost him his speakership,’ Rep. Raúl R. Labrador of Idaho said, if Boehner puts an immigration overhaul on the floor. But even if Boehner shelves immigration, Labrador said, the party needs new leadership — and the two-term lawmaker is not ruling out a run for leadership himself …Labrador said the new GOP leadership in the 114th Congress could include members currently in leadership, particularly Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, with whom Labrador has a strong working relationship.” NEVER TOO EARLY FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky. and Mike Lee R-Utah, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., NBC reality-show hostDonald Trump, CNN personality Newt Gingrich and “Huckabee” host, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will appear at a New Hampshire event hosted by Citizens United and Americans for Prosperity April, 12. Via Breitbart. TO SAVE ON HEALTH, CURE DISEASE House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., is applauding a partnership between the nation’s largest drug companies and the National Institutes of Health to find cures for Alzheimer’s, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Camp said the $230 million project “exemplifies the very best of a public-private collaboration, and we in Congress also want to do what we can in the name of breakthrough research.” For conservatives, it’s a fiscal issue too. As James Pinkerton put it: “If you really want to save money on Medicare, cure Alzheimer’s. It’s a lot cheaper to beat than to treat.” LIVIN’ LA VIDA PUTIN Journalists from around the world are descending on Sochi, Russia before the start of the Winter Olympics on Thursday night. But globe-trotting journos are not finding Russian hospitality quite up to their standards. WaPo shares some of the discoveries. BBC reporter Kevin Bishop tweeted about his hotel having mixed amenities: the floor wasn’t finished, but it does have a super-creepy picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Chicago Tribune’s Stacy St. Clair was at first alarmed: “My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, ‘do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.’” But she soon took a more optimistic tone tweeting, “on the bright side: I just washed my face with Evian, like I’m a Kardashian or something.”Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign uphere. To catch Chris live online daily at 11:30 a.m. ET, clickhere.